UNIVERSITY  ut  ILLINOIS 


HOBART   COLLEGE   BULLETINS 


VoL  V 


OCTOBER,  J906 


No.  I 


AhbrtBB  to  %  Alumni,  imtij 
Annnnnrmmta 


Published  by  Hobart  College,  Geneva,   N.  Y.     Issued  quarterly. 

Entered  October  28,  1902,  at  Geneva,  N.  Y.,   as  second-class 

matter,  under  Act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894. 


APPEAL 

FOR  COPIES  OF  HOBART  PUBLICATIONS 

In  order  properly  to  fill  out  its  sets,  the  College  is  in  need 
of  the  following  issues  of  Hobart  publications.  Through 
the  kindness  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  Cameron  Mann  the  College 
has  just  received  three  handsomely  bound  volumes  containing 
the  Echo,  Vols.  VII-XXIV.  If  copies  of  Vols,  If  III  and 
Via  {Classes  of  '6i,'  62,  and  '6j)  could  be  secured,  the  College 
would  have  a  complete  duplicate  set  of  the  whole  series  of 
46  issues. 

Catalogue: — 1837-38,  1838-39,  1840-41,  1844-45, 
1848-49,  1850-51,  1864-65,  1868-69,  1880-81,  1886-87, 
1891-92. 

Echo: — Vols.I-XI  (Classes  of  1857-1872)  inclusive;  Vols. 
XXI  (Class  of  1882),  XXII  (Class  of  1883),  XXIX  (Class 
of  i89i),XXXV  (Class  of  1897),  XL  (Class  of  1902),  XLI 
(Class  of  1903). 

Herald: — Vols.  I-VI  (1877-1885)  inclusive,  any  num- 
bers ;  Vol.  VII  (1885-86),  Nos.  3,  4,  5,  7  ;  Vol.  VIII  (1886- 
87),  Nos.  1,  2,  3,  5,  7  ;  Vol.  IX  (1887-88),  Nos.  1,  2, 
3,  4,  5  ;  Vol.  X  (1888-89),  Nos.  3,  5,  8,  9  ;  Vol.  XI  (1889- 
90),  Nos.  5,  10;  Vol.  XVI  (1894-95),  Nos.  1,  6,  9,  10  ; 
Vol.  XVII  (1895-96),  No.  1,  Vol.  XVIII  (1896-97),  No. 
8  ;  Vol.  XXII  (1900-01),  No.  3.  The  deficiencies  in  Vols. 
I-VII  (1877-86)  and  XVI  (1894-95),  are  especially 
serious. 

It  is  earnestly  desired  that  anyone  who  is  in  a  position  to 
do  so  will  send  the  above  mentioned  issues  (any  numbers, 
however  scattering,  will  be  useful),  to  the  Librarian  of  the 
College,  Dr.  Charles  D.  Vail. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  ALUMNI 

Gentlemen  of  the  Alumni: 

It  is  my  intention  to  make  the  Autumn  College  Bulletin 
the  Alumni  Bulletin.  Last  year  I  addressed  to  you  my  first 
statement.  This  year  I  am  sending  you  my  second.  A 
direct  message  from  the  President  to  the  graduates  and 
former  students  of  Hobart  College  needs  no  justification 
because  the  objects  or  reasons  for  such  a  proceeding  are 
almost  self-evident.  The  beginning  of  a  new  academic  year 
is  an  event  of  outstanding  importance  to  College  men  and  it  is 
taken  for  granted  that  every  alumnus  will  be  glad  to  hear  how 
his  Alma  Mater  is  faring  and  what  her  prospects  are. 

Naturally  at  such  a  time,  the  first  object  of  interest  is  the 
freshman  class.  It  will  therefore  encourage  the  alumni  to 
learn  that  thejiumber  of  freshmen  of  this  year  exceeds  that 
of  last.  In  all,  fifty  new  men  have  entered  this  autumn, 
of  whom  forty-six  are  freshmen,  three  are  sophomores  and 
one  is  a  junior.  Equally  if  not  more  gratifying,  is  the  fact 
that  seventy  old  men  have  returned  to  College  this  October 
as  against  fifty-one  in  October,  1905.  The  holding  of  stu- 
dents is  an  act  of  co-ordinate  value  with  getting  them,  and 
has,  moreover,  its  own  special  significance.  It  shows  that 
men  are  receiving  what  they  wish  in  the  way  of  instruction. 
It  shows  too  that  they  are  happy  and  contented  and  loyal  to 
their  Alma  Mater,  and  above  all  it  is  a  proof  that  they  are 
working  enthusiastically  for  the  College  and  feel  themselves 
factors  in  her  life  and  growth.  Seventy  such  students  have 
just  returned  to  Hobart  and  when  we  add  to  these  the  fifty- 
one  new  men  who  have  arrived  we  have  a  total  registration 
of  one  hundred  and  twenty,  the  largest  registration  in  the 


4  Hobart  College 

history  of  the  College.  This  is,  moreover,  an  increase  of 
fifty  per  cent,  over  two  years  ago. 

As  a  consequence  of  these  accessions  we  have  our  class- 
rooms and  laboratories  taxed  to  their  utmost  while  the  two 
dormitories  are  over-filled.  In  this  connection  the  Alumni 
will  be  glad  to  learn  that  Geneva  Hall  has  been  renovated 
throughout  during  the  past  summer.  All  the  rooms  have 
been  freshly  papered  and  painted  and  four  showers  have  been 
placed  in  the  basement.  So  attractive,  indeed,  has  the  old 
place  become,  that  the  students  in  the  selection  of  their  rooms 
have  shown  a  decided  preference  for  it.  All  this  has  been 
done,  I  am  glad  to  announce,  without  depleting  the  funds  of 
the  College.  The  congregation  of  Emmanuel  Church,  Bos- 
ton, the  Reverend  Doctors  El  wood  Worcester  and  Alexander 
Mann,  also  of  Boston,  Mr.  William  Alexander  Smith  and 
Mrs.  Herbert  R.  Moody  of  New  York  City  together  with  Mr. 
S.  W.  Hopkins  and  Miss  Mary  Webster  of  Geneva  have 
generously  provided  the  funds  with  which  these  necessary 
changes  have  been  made. 

Other  improvements  which  I  am  happy  to  announce  have 
been  made  in  the  Library  and  the  Physical  Laboratory. 
Through  the  kindness  of  an  old  and  valued  friend  of  the 
College,  who,  for  reasons  of  her  own,  desires  to  have  her 
name  withheld,  two  thousand  dollars  have  been  contributed 
to  effect  certain  needed  changes  and  alterations  in  the 
library.  The  principal  of  these  has  been  the  furnishing 
throughout  of  a  new  stack  room  which  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  books  and  pamphlets  rendered  necessary.  All 
changes  and  repairs  have  been  made  under  the  wise  and 
painstaking  direction  of  the  Librarian,  Doctor  Charles  D. 
Vail. 

In  the  Physical  Laboratory  the  first  installment  of  an 
electrial  equipment,   including  an   engine  and  dynamo,  has 


Address  to  the  Alumni  5 

been  put  in  place.  The  cost  of  this  work  has  been  met  by 
the  annual  appropriation  made  by  the  Trustees  for  the 
Department  of  Physics.  It  will  take  the  appropriations  of 
four  more  years  to  complete  the  kind  of  electrical  equip- 
ment we  require,  but  we  have  decided  that  some  of  our 
immediate  needs  must  be  met  at  once;  and  since  it  seemed 
impossible  to  find  anyone  who  would  be  willing  to  give 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars  to  establish  the  plant  in  full,  we 
have  begun  the  slow  process  of  installing  it  by  degrees.  Such 
a  plan,  while  it  does  not  satisfy  all  our  requirements  or  all 
that  the  students  ask  at  our  hands  has  at  least  the  merit  of 
enabling  us  to  report  progress  with  economy.  The  head  of 
the  department,  it  should  be  said, has  done  everything  in  his 
power  to  assist  the  President  in  holding  expenses  down  to  a 
modest  figure.  He  has  himself  constructed  much  of  his 
own  apparatus  together  with  the  tables  and  cases  that  he 
needed  and  if  the  physics  laboratory  is  ever  adequately 
equipped,  it  will  be  in  great  part  due  to  the  patience,  inge- 
nuity and  downright  toil  of  Professor  Arthur  A.  Bacon. 

Speaking  of  economy,  I  should  like  the  Alumni  to  take 
note  of  the  fact  that  notwithstanding  the  inevitable  increase 
of  expenses  which  growth  entails,  the  financial  condition  of 
the  College  is  better  than  it  was  three  years  ago.  Despite 
the  improvement  of  grounds  and  buildings,  the  addition  of 
apparatus,  the  increase  of  the  faculty  and  the  care  of  a  larger 
number  of  students,  the  endowment  fund  of  the  College 
has  not  only  not  been  impaired  but  shows  a  modest  advance 
of  one  thousand  dollars.  Also,  last  June  the  Treasurer 
reported  a  balance  for  the  year  instead  of  the  customary 
deficit  and  if  the  present  encouraging  signs  are  any  guide  for 
the  future  this  balance  will  be  equalled  if  not  exceeded 
by  next  Commencement. 

To  sum  up,  then,  what  is  the  situation?     It  is  described 


6  Hobart  College 

in  the  following  facts:  an  entering  class  of  fifty  men,  the 
largest  registration  in  the  history  of  the  college,  dormitory 
and  laboratory  accomodations  taxed  to  their  utmost,  a  balance 
in  the  treasury,  the  college  equipment  improved  and  the 
college  spirit  loyal  and  united.  Such,  in  the  main,  are 
the  encouraging  features  of  the  present  situation  and 
they  prove  that  we  are  in  a  sound  and  live  condition 
here  in  Geneva  and  worthy  of  the  support  and  backing 
of  our  alumni.  I  have  felt  that  it  was  an  almost  im- 
possible task  to  get  any  large  amounts  of  money  for  the 
college  until  we  had  proved  ourselves  fit  in  the  present  and 
deserving  of  a  future.  Even  last  year  when  the  showing  of 
the  college  was  better  than  ever  before  I  was  told  that  men 
were  disposed  to  question  whether  the  larger  numbers  and 
other  marks  of  prosperity  were  not,  after  all,  only  a  happy 
fluke  or  a  lucky  flash  in  the  pan.  I  did  not  blame  men  for 
asking  this  question,  nay,  I  was  even  disposed  when  I  was 
all  alone  to  put  the  same  question  somewhat  fearfully  to 
myself.  But  now  the  facts  of  last  year  have  been  repeated 
on  a  slighty  enlarged  and  improved  scale.  The  decided  out- 
ward growth  which  first  declared  itself  a  twelvemonth  ago 
has  steadily  continued  and,  what  is  more,  gives  evidence  of 
further  progress.  On  October  first,  I  already  had  twelve 
men  booked  for  entrance  in  September,  1907,  a  greater 
number  than  has  ever  before  been  on  my  list  at  that  time. 

To  insure  this  progress,  however,  we  must  have  means  and 
have  it  right  away.  A  bigger  student  body  means  an 
increased  faculty  and  greater  expenses,  but  it  ought  also  to 
be  remembered  that  it  means  a  decrease  in  the  proportional 
cost  of  each  student.  A  college  of  three  hundred  men  can  be 
maintained  at  a  cheaper  rate  per  man  than  a  college  of  one 
hundred.  Last  year  Hobart  expended  thirty-eight  thousand 
dollars  on  the  education  of  about  one  hundred  undergraduates 


Address  to  the  Alumni  7 

or  at  least  eighty  dollars  more  a  head  than  many  colleges  of 
the  land.  In  other  words  the  fees  of  two  hundred  additional 
students  would  more  than  offset  the  expenses  of  three  new 
chairs  in  the  faculty  and  one  or  two  extra  dormitories. 
Furthermore,  as  I  have  reminded  you  on  other  occasions 
these  additional  educational  facilities  for  which  I  plead  are 
necessary  not  merely  to  increase  the  number  of  sudents  but 
to  provide  the  students  we  already  have  with  the  instruction 
they  desire.  A  Chair  of  Economics,  a  Biological  Laboratory, 
a  Gymnasium  and  a  Dormitory  are  therefore,  let  me  repeat, 
immediate" and  pressing  needs.  We  cannot  do  our  work  prop- 
erly without  them,  neither  can  we  take  advantage  of  the 
opportunity  that  is  at  present  ours.  We  simply  must  have 
these  things  if  we  are  to  assume  our  place  among  the  well- 
equipped  and  efficient  small  colleges  of  the  land.  Hobart 
has  nailed  her  flag  to  the  mast  of  the  small  college.  She  has 
no  vain  aspirations  to  become  either  a  university  or  even  a 
big  college.  The  ideal  of  bigness  does  not  appeal  to  her. 
The  hope  that  does  inspire  her  breast,  however,  is  fitness 
and  efficiency:  a  fitness  and  efficiency  that  will  enable  her  to 
provide  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three  hundred  students 
and  give  them  every  privilege  of  training  and  instruction  that 
a  small  college  in  this  twentieth  century  should  furnish. 

Hobart,  let  it  be  remembered  is  in  her  eighty-fifth  year. 
She  has  lived  through  many  and  varied  vicissitudes  and 
trials.  Into  her  life  and  usefulness,  the  labors  of  many  ear- 
nest and  self-sacrificing  men  have  entered.  They  have  all 
looked  forward  to  the  day  which  has  but  just  begun  to  dawn. 
The  fruition  of  their  toil  is  at  hand.  Other  men  have  la- 
bored and  we  have  entered  into  their  labors,  but  in  order  that 
we  may  carry  these  labors  forward  and  achieve  the  results 
they  richly  merit  we  must  at  once  unite  in  an  honest  and 
earnest  effort  to  grasp  our  present  opportunities  and  to  give 


8  Hob  art  College 

Hobart  that  equipment  of  material  necessities  of  which  she 
stands  in  such  great  need.  Let  no  man  turn  a  deaf  or  indif- 
ferent ear  to  this  appeal.  Let  every  man  read  this  appeal 
not  once,  but  many  times  and  then  let  him  turn  to  and  do 
what  in  him  lies  to  give  us  in  some  form  or  other  instant 
help. 

"There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune; 

Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 

Is  bound  in  shoals  and  in  miseries. 

On  such  a  full  sea  are  we  now  afloat; 

And  we  must  take  the  current  when  it  serves, 

Or  lose  our  ventures." 

Faithfully  yours, 

Langdon  C.   Stewardson. 


The  Carnegie  Foundation  at  Hobart  College  9 

THE  CARNEGIE  FOUNDATION  AT 
HOBART  COLLEGE 

The  following  letter  was  received  by  the  President  of  the 
College  shortly  after  the  publication  of  the  last  Bulletin: 

Dear  Sir: — 

I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that,  by  the  action  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teach- 
ing, Hobart  College  has  been  placed  upon  the  list  of  institutions 
entitled  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  this  Foundation.  Such  institutions 
are  designated  in  the  rules  adopted  by  the  Trustees  as  "accepted  insti- 
tutions," and  to  professors  in  these  institutions  the  retiring  allowances 
become  a  part  of  the  regular  academic  compensation. 

I  beg  that  you  will  inform  me  at  your  early  convenience  whether 
Hobart  College  accepts  this  relation  to  the  Carnegie  Foundation  for 
the  Advancement  of  Teaching. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Henry  S.  Pritchett, 

July  10,  1906.  President. 

President  Langdon  C.  Stewardson, 

Hobart  College,  Geneva,  N.  Y. 

According  to  the  printed  statement  of  the  Trustees  of 
the  Foundation  accompanying  this  letter  Hobart  was  one  of 
forty-six  institutions  to  find  a  place  on  the  first  list  of  '  'accepted 
institutions.' '  (Some  six  hundred  universities,  colleges, 
and  technical  schools  are  said  to  have  applied.)  "From  this 
list  are  omitted  all  institutions  having  formal  denominational 
connections,  or  which  require  their  trustees  or  officers  to 
belong  to  a  specified  denomination;"  also  "all  institutions  con- 
trolled and  supported  by  a  state,  province  or  municipality;" 
and  likewise  all  "which  fall  below  the  academic  standard  of 
a  college  which  the  trustees  have  adopted."  As  this  Board 
is  made  up  of  the  most  prominent  university  presidents  in  the 


io  Hobart  College 

country,  its  opinion  upon  the  academic  standing  of  a  college 
is  of  no  small  value. 

The  Carnegie  Foundation  exists  at  present  for  the  purpose 
of  granting  retiring  allowances  to  professors  who  satisfy  cer- 
tain conditions  as  to  age  and  length  of  service.  The  amount 
of  the  allowance  varies  according  to  the  duration  of  service, 
but  in  normal  circumstances  it  amounts  to  about  two  thirds 
of  the  active  salary.  Widows  receive  one-half  the  teachers 
pension. 


ANNOUNCEMENTS 

It  is  with  great  regret  that  we  announce  the  resignation  of 

Dr.  Howard  P.  Jones,  the  Professor  of  Modern  Languages, 

and  of  Mr.  James  D.  Regan,  the  Instructor 

FACULTY  in  the  same  department.  Dr.  Jones  received 
an  attractive  call  to  Dalhousie  College,  Hal- 
ifax, Nova  Scotia,  and  Mr.  Regan  one  to  Groton  School. 
Dr.  Jones  was  a  sound  and  careful  scholar  and  Mr.  Regan  a 
most  proficient  teacher.  The  loss  of  both  men  is  deplored 
alike  by  faculty  and  undergraduates. 

We  have,  however,  been  fortunate  in  securing  the  services 
of  Dr.  George  Maxwell  Howe,  who  takes  the  chair  left  vacant 
by  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Jones.  Dr.  Howe  is  an  A.B.  1894 
from  Indiana  University  and  a  Ph.D.  1901  from  Cornell. 
He  was  a  student  in  the  University  of  Leipzig  from  1895  to 
1898,  Instructor  of  German  at  Dartmouth,  1898-1899,  Fellow 
in  German  (Cornell)  1 899-1900,  Instructor  in  German  (Cor- 
nell) 1 900- 1 906,  and  studied  in  the  University  of  Berlin 
1905-6. 

Frederick  Grant  Miller,  A.B.,  Hamilton,  1902,  has  been 
appointed  Instructor  in  French  and  German.  Mr.  Miller  has 
been  a  student  at  Munich  and  Berne.      From  1902  to  1904  he 


Announcements  ii 

was  Instructor  in  Latin  and  Greek  at  Palmer  Institute  and 
1904-5  Instructor  in  French  and  Latin  in  Geneva  High 
School. 

Through  the  kindness  of  Mrs.  C.   D.  Vail, 

OTHER        Coxe  Hall  has  been  provided  with  an  adequate 
ANNOUNCE-  kitchen.     The   same   kind  benefactress  has 

MENTS  also  furnished  the  money  wherewith  a  door 
has  been  cut  between  the  office  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  that  of  the  Secretary,  thereby  greatly  facilitating 
the  conduct  of  daily  business.  Besides  making  these  two 
improvements,  Mrs.  Vail  has  also  insisted  upon  paying  the 
college  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  for  a  small  strip  of 
land  immediately  in  the  rear  of  her  own  estate.  This  land 
was  of  little  or  no  worth  to  Hobart  and  the  money  paid  for  it 
far  in  excess  of  its  market  value.  The  one  thousand  dollars 
received,  is,  in  fact  a  generous  gift  bestowed  under  the  guise 
of  a  business  payment  and  we  take  great  pleasure  in  making 
to  Mrs.  Vail  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  College. 

The  renovation  of  Geneva  Hall  and  the  new  equipments 
in  the  Library  and  the  Physical  Laboratory  have  already  been 
mentioned  in  the  President's  address.  It  only  remains  to 
add  that  telephones  have  been  placed  in  the  Chemical  Lab- 
oratory, the  Physical  Laboratory,  and  the  Secretary's  office, 
thereby  consolidating  the  different  departments  of  College 
work  and  rendering  the  discharge  of  business  more  rapid  and 
efficacious. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  110190003 


|T  is  the  desire  of  the  College  to  place  the  Catalogue 
and  other  Bulletins  of  each  year  in  the  hands  of 
the  former  students  of  the  College  generally.  For 
this  purpose  and  to  facilitate  local  and  classs  reunions 
a  complete  and  accurate  Alumni  Directory  is  essential.  Nearly 
one  thousand  names  are  included  in  our  list  and  the  changes  in 
address  average  seventy-five  a  year. 

We  ask  every  alumnus  to  notify  the  Secretary  at  once  of  a 
change  of  address  on  his  part  or  that  of  any  other  Hobart  man. 
Notice  of  the  death  of  any  former  officer  or  student,  with  inform- 
ation concerning  him,  will  also  be  highly  appreciated. 

Alumni  who  are  the  authors  of  published  book  or  articles  will 
confer  a  favor  by  sending  a  copy  of  each  to  the  Library. 


